Golf club protector

ABSTRACT

Individual covers for golf clubs are simply, securely and effectively connected to a golf bag and have enlarged open ended portions for receiving the head of the clubs and tubular extensions through which the shafts of the clubs are inserted. The enlarged portions of the covers are provided with closure means or flaps which extend over the heads of the clubs and are held closed by fastening means when the clubs are not in use whereas when opened the fastening means on the closures permit the individual covers to be connected together into a unitary assembly and serve to hold the covers open to permit ready removal and insertion of the clubs.

United States Patent Inventor 3,294,138 12/1966 ISO/52(6) 72 I William C. Brenner 42 Westcott Ave, Trenton, NJ. 07010 FOREIGN PATIENTS 873,832 7 1939 Great Britain................

12 I] Appl. No.

Filed Primary Examiner- 1 Nov. 4, 1969 Patented SepL 7, 1971 Stanley H. Tollberg Attorney-Sperry and Zoda golf clubs are simply,

ctively connected to a golf bag and have ened portions for receiving the head of the clubs and tubular extensions through which the shafts of the clubs portions of the covers are provided th closure means or flaps which extend over the heads of the ubs and are held closed by fastening means when the clubs pened the fastening means on the closures permit the individual covers to be connected rl .m m o w n m M I m w m g S m m m .w m a d h ha u d m w en T e m m m m um m n mw w m 8mm .m n Ber e. e Axm mwdm G Z L 5 2 I65 D /G 5 0 B W S n T m N m m m M 4 .19.. R m C 0. m B T U T E W A EF NT. Team m .R on U m n Rw W m E m m w B0 Wfl N W mmm U CS "n m LM MM W d OCS M G5 UnmF M H M 6 b. U55 5.

1,886,464 11/1932 ISO/52.6 together into a unitary assembly and serve to hold the covers ISO/52.6 X open to permit ready removal and insertion of the clubs.

GOLF CLUB PROTECTOR FIELD OF INVENTION It is common practice to provide covers for golf clubs which serve to protect the heads of the clubs from injury. The covers heretofore available have generally had an open end which is slipped over the head of the club and down about the shaft of the club whereas a closed end of the cover serves to protect the head of the club. However, such covers are not always easy to apply and remove, and since they often are removed from the club each time the club is used they are frequently lost. On the other hand, if such covers are tied together or attached to the golf club they interfere with the insertion and removal of other clubs and they dangle around in such a way as to be objectionable and an unsightly nuisance.

In accordance with the present invention these and other objections to golf club covers of the prior art are overcome and a new type of cover provided wherein each club cover is individually formed as a unit with an enlarged open upper end portion through which a club may be inserted and removed and a narrower, generally tubular, lower end portion through which the shaft of the club extends. The upper end portion of the unit is provided with closure means which are designed to extend over the club head to protect the club when it is not in use and in the preferred embodiment of the invention herein shown and described the closure means are further constructed to permit attachment of one unit to another in a manner to connect the units together as an assembly and to aid in holding the open end of each unit expanded to facilitate insertion and removal of a club.

The construction thus provided differs fundamentally from prior open ended golf club covers of the types shown and described in such patents as Reed U.S. Pat. No. 2,633,]73 Coutrc U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,636 Stamp U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,973, and Hird U.S. Pat. No. 2,925,840

for example.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical unit embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an assembly of the units shown in FIG. l as used in combination with a golf bag; with the units open at the top to receive golf clubs;

FIG. 3 is a view like FIG. 2 with the units closed; and,

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the assembly with the cover flaps turned down for normal use.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In that form of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings the cover for a golf club consists of a unit 2 which serves as an enclosure for the head 4 of a golf club and a portion of its shaft 6. The enclosure has an upper portion 8 which is open at the top and of sufficient cross section to freely receive the head 4 of the club to be protected and a lower generally cylindrical portion 10 which is smaller in cross section than the head 4 of the club and designed to receive the shaft 6 of the club. The enclosure is open ended in construction and designed to be located in theupper end of a golf bag in position to permit a golf club to be readily inserted into and removed from the cover.

The cover may be formed of any suitable or preferred lightweight material and in particular is capable of being formed of flexible sheet material such as fabric, plastic, leather or woven or knitted yarn or the like. Plastic coated fabric or plastic sheet material are preferred since such products are waterproof and at the same time may be sufficiently soft and flexible to cushion the movement of the club head when a bag is carried so that the surface of the club will be protected from injury scratching or abrasion due to contact thereof with other clubs in the bag.

The cover illustrated may be formed from a single flat sheet of material folded along a line 12 and presenting two opposite free edges M which are joined together to form a longitudinal seam as shown at 16. The free edges 14 of the sheet of material used in forming the cover extend outward from the fold line 12 a greater distance near the upper portion of the cover so as to provide the enlarged upper club head receiving portion 8 of the cover. The free edges 14 of the cover may be permanently secured together by stitching, heat sealing, riveting, the use of adhesive material or other suitable means, although it is possible if desired to secure such edges together by separable means such as zippers" or snap fasteners, if desired. The edges 14 are preferably turned inwardly toward each other in at least the upper portion 8 of the cover, whereby the material adjacent the seam and which may be relatively stiff, tends to cause the elongated mouth of the upper head receiving portion of the cover to spread or open up to such an extent as to facilitate the insertion and removal of a club.

The upper portion of the cover further is provided with an extension 118 which is located at one side of the cover and adapted to be moved inward over the mouth of the cover to serve as a closure means for protecting the club and preventing loss or unintentional removal thereof when the bag is being carried or is in storage or at other times when the club enclosed by the cover is not in use.

Fastening means are carried by the closure means 18 and by the upper portion 8 of the cover and as shown it is ad vantageous to use separable fasteners such as a snap fastener element 20 facing inward on inner face of the closure means 18 and a complementary outwardly facing snap fastening element 22 located on the outer surface of the opposite side of the upper portion 8 of the cover. The closure means can then be moved inward and downward as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1 to bring the fastening elements 20 and 22 into registration and retaining engagement.

When thus closed over the open upper end of the upper portion of the cover the club within the cover will not only be protected but will be held in place within the cover. On the other hand, the construction thus provided serves to permit a number of such covers holding different clubs to be connected together. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4 the extension or closure means 18 may be turned outwardly and downwardly into a position wherein the fastening element 20 on the inner face thereof may be snapped onto or otherwise secured to the fastening element 22, on the outer face of a similar cover member adjacent thereto. In this way any desired number of individual club covers may be connected together in an assembly for receiving a plurality of different clubs carried in a golf bag. Furthermore, when the closure means are thus turned outward and connected to an adjacent cover the closure will serve to hold the mouth of the cover open so as to render the clubs readily accessible and permit easy insertion and removal thereof from the cover by which it is protected.

When using the covers of the present invention, and particularly when using several such covers, it is desirable to provide means for connecting the various covers together when the closure members are folded over and secured in club covering position. It is therefore desirable to provide connecting means such as the cords or lines 24 and 26 which are attached to the cover in any suitable way at spaced points adjacent one edge of the cover, as :for example by extension through grommets 28. These fastening means are preferably located adjacent the upper portion :8 and the lower portion 10 of each cover and serve to hold the generally straight vertical edges of the covers together while allowing the opposite laterally projecting club enclosing upper portions of the covers to spread apart fanwise to aid in separating the clubs. The cord 26 extends upward and outwardly from the top of a golf bag 30 and to be connected to the handle 32 or other portion of the bag to hold the club covers in place within the top of the bag and prevent possible loss thereof.

The construction thus provided is simple and economical to produce and allows the golfer to employ any desired number of club covers. Thus some golfers use only two or three wood' clubs, while others may use four or five such clubs. Furthermore, if an additional club is bought only one additional cover need be purchased to add to an existing assembly. In a similar way if a golfer decides to leave out any club he can remove the extra cover and will not be encumbered with an unused cover. Moreover, when the covers are not in use and for shipment or storage purposes they can be folded flat into a small, compact space whereby much room and packaging is saved.

The covers of the present invention may of course be numbered to correspond to the numbers of the clubs to be protected thereby or the covers may be formed of a transparent plastic sheet material through which the numbers of the clubs can be seen without even opening the closure means. Furthermore, although the clubs illustrated in the drawings are shown as those having wooden heads, they may also be used on irons, putters and any other type of club as desired.

1 claim:

1, A golf club cover comprising an enclosure for the head and a portion of the shaft of a golf club, said enclosure being tapered toward the lower end thereof when covering a generally vertically disposed golf club, an upper portion of said cover defining an upwardly presented opening, said portion defining said opening being elongated in horizontal cross section, a topmost extension of said upper portion comprising a closure means foldable downwardly upon itself and over said upwardly presented opening, said closure means being foldable along a line disposed generally parallel with the direction of elongation of said portion defining said opening, and said upper portion having fastening means on an outer surface thereof and said closure means having complementary fastening means thereon engageable with said fastening means on said upper portion of said enclosure for holding said closure means in a club head protecting position.

2. A golf club cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said closure means is movable in a direction away from said opening into a position wherein the fastening means on said closure means is engageable with said fastening means on the outer side of the upper portion of a similar adjacent golf club cover.

3. A golf club cover as defined in claim 2, wherein said enclosure is formed of material having at least two opposite free edges which are secured together along a generally vertical line from the upper portion to the lower portion of said enclosure.

4. A golf club cover as defined in claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the free edges of said material are turned inwardly toward each other and secured together along said generally vertically extending line to form folds in the material spaced outwardly of said vertically extending line, whereby said upwardly presented opening is caused to spread out and widen to facilitate the insertion and removal of a club when said fastening means on said closure means is engaged with the fastening means on the outer surface of an upper portion of a similar adjacent golf club cover.

5. A golf club cover as defined in claim 3, wherein said enclosure is forrned of a single piece of flexible material. 

1. A golf club cover comprising an enclosure for the head and a portion of the shaft of a golf club, said enclosure being tapered toward the lower end thereof when covering a generally vertically disposed golf club, an upper portion of said cover defining an upwardly presented opening, said portion defining said opening being elongated in horizontal cross section, a topmost extension of said upper portion comprising a closure means foldable downwardly upon itself and over said upwardly presented opening, said closure means being foldable along a line disposed generally parallel with the direction of elongation of said portion defining said opening, and said upper portion having fastening means on an outer surface thereof and said closure means having complementary fastening means thereon engageable with said fastening means on said upper portion of said enclosure for holding said closure means in a club head protecting position.
 2. A golf club cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said closure means is movable in a direction away from said opening into a position wherein the fastening means on said closure means is engageable with said fastening means on the outer side of the upper portion of a similar adjacent golf club cover.
 3. A golf club cover as defined in claim 2, wherein said enclosure is formed of material having at least two opposite free edges which are secured together along a generally vertical line from the upper portion to the lower portion of said enclosure.
 4. A golf club cover as defined in claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the free edges of said material are turned inwardly toward each other and secured together along said generally vertically extending line to form folds in the material spaced outwardly of said vertically extendIng line, whereby said upwardly presented opening is caused to spread out and widen to facilitate the insertion and removal of a club when said fastening means on said closure means is engaged with the fastening means on the outer surface of an upper portion of a similar adjacent golf club cover.
 5. A golf club cover as defined in claim 3, wherein said enclosure is formed of a single piece of flexible material. 